Part 56

A few days after this date (about the 20th of August,) the writer of these memoirs was nominated by the president to the senate, and by their advice and consent thereto was appointed, to be one of the judges of the western territory (now the state of Ohio, &c.): the other judges, nominated and appointed with him, were Samuel Holden Parsons and John Cleves Symmes, Esquires. Major-General Arthur St. Clair, who may, in some respects, be considered as a modern Bellisarius, was at the same time appointed, in like manner, to be governor of that territory. The writer declined the honour intended for him by this appointment, which was unsolicited on his part: he resigned it in a day or two after.

The promptitude with which this mark of president Washington’s approbation of the person recommended to him by Mr. Rittenhouse, was bestowed, is an evidence of the respect in which the president held that gentleman’s recommendation; and it is the more so, as Mr. Rittenhouse’s letter was the only one addressed to the president on that occasion.

Footnote 234a:

For many interesting particulars concerning the sufferings and ill-requited services of this respectable veteran—of a man who once filled the chair of congress, and uniformly possessed the friendship and confidence of WASHINGTON, see his Narrative, lately published.

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On the 10th of November, 1789, the following letter from Mr. Rittenhouse, offering his resignation of the office of treasurer of the state, was presented to the general assembly; and, after having been twice read, was, by order of the house, entered on their minutes.

November 9, 1789.

“Sir,

“On account of the very unfavourable state of my health, as well as because I most earnestly wish to devote some of the few remaining hours of my life to a favourite science, I find myself under the necessity of declining the office of treasurer.

“I have now held that office for almost thirteen years, having been annually appointed by the unanimous voice, so far as I know, of the representatives of the freemen of this state; a circumstance I shall ever reflect on with satisfaction, and which does me the greatest honour.

“I will not pay so ill a compliment to those I owe so much, as to suppose the principal motive in these repeated appointments was any other than the public good; but I am nevertheless very willing to believe, that a regard to my interest was not wholly out of view. And I shall, perhaps, never have another opportunity of expressing, with so much propriety, my sincerest gratitude to the representatives of my countrymen, whose favour I have indeed often experienced on other occasions.

“I accepted the treasury, when it was attended with difficulty and danger, and consequently when there was no compensation for it. Soon afterwards, a depreciated currency, prodigiously accumulated, made it extremely burthensome, without any prospect of profit.

“In a more favourable situation of our affairs, it might have been lucrative, had not the very small commissions allowed by law, been scarcely equal to the risk of receiving and paying. In 1785, my commissions were increased, and the office was for some time profitable; but the difficulties or remissness in collecting the public revenues, again reduced it to a very moderate compensation.

“If, however, the embarrassments of the office have, in general, been little understood by those not immediately concerned in it; if the emoluments of it have been greatly exaggerated in the public opinion; I am still the more obliged to the several assemblies, who, under these impressions, have nevertheless continued me so long their treasurer.

“The confidence of the public I have ever esteemed so invaluable a possession, that it has been my fixed determination not to forfeit it, by any voluntary act of impropriety. Where my conduct has been deficient in the discharge of my duty, I hope it will be imputed to want of ability, and not of integrity.

“Fully sensible of the importance of the office I have the honour to hold, I cheerfully commit it into the hands of those who properly are, and ever must be, the guardians of the public good. I am, sir, with great respect, your most obliged and very humble servant—

“DAVID RITTENHOUSE

“The honourable the Speaker of the Assembly.”

From the commencement of the year 1777, at which period Mr. Rittenhouse was invested with the treasurership of his native state, until the month of September following, when its capital was actually possessed by the British army, that city was in imminent danger of an hostile invasion. When it was reduced to a moral certainty, that the speedy occurrence of such an event was inevitable, he had retired with the treasury (as before noticed) to Lancaster, as a place of security; where he remained until the succeeding summer: when, after the evacuation of the capital by the British forces, he returned thither, and replaced the treasury in its ancient seat. The time, therefore, at which he accepted the office of treasurer, was truly one of “difficulty and danger.”

That it was not, for many years, a lucrative place, must be apparent from the ever memorable circumstance of the great and unexampled depreciation of that species of paper-currency, called continental money; which was the only circulating medium of the United States, until the year 1782, when the bank of North America went into operation. The vast accumulation in the treasury, of that depreciated and daily depreciating substitute for money, must necessarily have been “extremely burthensome” to the treasurer, and could not have afforded him “any prospect of profit,” during the first five years of his tenure of the office. And it was not, in fact, until those last few years, which constituted the interval between the time of augmenting the commissions and his retirement from the office, that the treasurership was profitable to him. During the greater part of the time he held it, the profits of the office did not enable him to employ even a clerk: nor could he have performed the numerous and laborious duties of that station (such as they then were,) had he not been greatly assisted by the assiduity, care and abilities, of an excellent woman—Mrs. Rittenhouse. Singular as this circumstance may appear, this notice of it seems due to the memory of an highly meritorious wife; while, on the other hand, it must be acknowledged, that it does not reflect any honour on the liberality of a great, wealthy, and populous state. Such a man as David Rittenhouse ought to have been otherwise employed, by a generous and enlightened public: the exercise of his transcendent talents, in works of great and permanent public utility, would not only have constituted services which would have entitled him to a bountiful remuneration; but such as would have conferred great additional benefits and honours on his country.

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Footnote 235:

According to Dr. Ramsay, “the depreciation began at different periods in different states; but, in general, about the middle of the year 1777, and progressively increased for three or four years.” In the first four or five months of 1780, it depreciated to 50 or 60 for one. “Its circulation,” continues Dr. Ramsay, “was afterwards partial; but, where it passed, it soon depreciated to 150 for one. In some few parts, it continued in circulation for the first four or five months of 1781; but in this latter period, many would not take it at any rate, and they who did, received it at a depreciation of several hundreds for one.”

Hist. Am. Revol.

In October, 1779, it was resolved by congress, that no further sum in this paper-money should be issued, on any account whatever, than would, when added to the sum then in circulation, amount to 200 millions of dollars. In their circular letter of the 13th of September preceding, addressed to their constituents, congress asserted the practicability of redeeming all the continental bills at par, with gold and silver; and rejected, with indignation, the supposition that the states would ever tarnish their credit by violating public faith. “These strong declarations in favour of the paper-currency,” says Dr. Ramsay, “deceived many to repose confidence in it, to their utter ruin.” In addition to the amount of many millions of dollars, in paper-emissions of the several states, congress, soon after, actually continued to issue their own paper, until it amounted in the whole to the enormous sum of 200 millions of dollars! That which was of little value before, now became of less, and soon afterwards good for nothing. The inevitable consequence was, that thousands of meritorious citizens were entirely ruined, and others greatly injured in their property.

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That he should have had, in thirteen years, successively, an unanimous annual vote for the office of treasurer, is a very strong testimonial of the exalted sense which his countrymen entertained of his integrity: it would have been so, under a popular government, at any period. But when it is considered, that, during the whole of the time he held the treasurership, the people of Pennsylvania were divided into two opposing parties, which sprung into existence with the adoption of the state-constitution of 1776, the unanimity of their representatives in favour of this individual, is still more conclusive evidence of his merits. Most of those men in the community, best acquainted with human nature, and practically versed in the science of politics, very early pointed out the radical defects of the new frame of government; and predicted the utter incompetency of that instrument, as they conceived, to promote the true interest and happiness of civil society. In a single legislative body, a plural executive, and in a limited duration of the judicial authority—consequently, an undue dependence of the judges on the executive for their re-appointment,—they foresaw those evils, which were too soon realized: and in a septennial council of censors, such as that constitution provided for, they beheld a political chimera, at variance with common sense and the experience of mankind. Men entertaining these views, formed, of course, one of these parties.

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